I Marched For the Climate, Now What?
“Protesters are demanding bold climate action and an end to extractive industries, as world leaders meet to discuss climate change.”
“We have to put pressure on our leaders to let them know we see climate change as an incredible emergency. The conclusions of scientists are really alarming. We are people who think we need to treat this issue as a very, very big priority.”
"The climate crisis, it's really critical right now. To sit around and do nothing is not really an option.”
“We can’t allow half-measures anymore… we have to let politicians know that this issue of climate change is something people will be thinking about in the ballot box.”
On September 27th, 500,000 Montrealers marched demanding stronger climate change policies in what was the largest demonstration of any kind to ever take place in Quebec. The magnitude of the crowd was truly inspiring. Enthusiasm was contagious. People spoke of how powerful the moment felt. However, the quotes above are not from coverage of last month’s climate demonstration. They are all five years older, stemming from coverage of the 2014 People’s Climate March in Montreal, one of hundreds of climate marches that happened around the world on September 21, 2014 in what was declared “the largest climate change march in history”.
At the time, that demonstration felt just as impactful as the one that took place last month. But what happened next?
Stephen Harper continued his legacy of muzzling scientists, reducing the scope of environmental impact assessments, promoting tar sands development, and overall disinterest in enacting any meaningful national climate change policy.
In 2016, Americans elected Donald “climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese” Trump to the White House. Trump went on to enlist notorious climate change deniers Scott Pruitt and Myron Ebell to oversee the dismantling of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Although he has been successful in implementing an overdue nation-wide price on carbon, Justin Trudeau approved the Trans Mountain and Line 3 pipeline expansions over the last three years.
In 2018, a Special Report from the IPCC stated that global emissions of carbon dioxide would need to fall by 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030 to avoid severe risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security, and economic growth. Despite a dire need for meaningful international response to this threat, the last few years have seen leaders like Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Scott Morrison in Australia elected who continue to be climate obstructionists on the global stage.
Demonstrations like the September 27th Climate Strike tend to grab headlines and create positive momentum in the short term, but these movements have yet to lead to any meaningful action or response from politicians. If governments were serious about listening to the deafening voices of the electorate demanding environmental action it would have happened long ago. If we’re serious about wanting to curb greenhouse gas emissions, it seems like we must take control into our own hands.
The list below is by no means meant to be comprehensive, but I’ve chosen to highlight five relatively simple actions that you can take in order to reduce your personal and community carbon footprint.
1. Avoid all products containing palm oil.
Palm oil is an ingredient found in everything from processed foods, cosmetics, hygiene products, biofuels, and candles. Palm oil may not cost much to produce, but it exacts a high price on the environment through the clearing of tropical rainforests and peatlands for monoplantations of oil palm trees. This deforestation contributes to climate change, as the conversion of rainforests to palm oil monoplantations releases carbon dioxide that had been absorbed by old-growth forests. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimated in 2013 that 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from tropical deforestation.
2. Reduce your meat intake (or better yet, become a vegetarian/vegan!).
By moving towards a mainly vegetarian diet, you can have a major impact on your personal carbon footprint. Land clearing, growing animal feed, farming livestock, food processing and transporting meat and dairy products are all high carbon-intensive activities. According to The Guardian, red meat requires 28 times more land to produce than pork or chicken, 11 times more water and results in five times more climate-warming emissions. When compared to staples like potatoes, wheat, and rice, the impact of beef per calorie is even more extreme, requiring 160 times more land and producing 11 times more greenhouse gases.
3. Offset your next flight on www.less.ca.
Carbon offsets have been criticized as a way for companies to buy their way out of their environmental obligations. Buying carbon offsets will certainly not solve climate change, but other than taking less flights, it remains one of the only available tools for those interested in reducing the impacts of their air travel. When purchasing carbon offsets it is important to check that your carbon offsets are certified by a recognized standard (Gold Standard, CDM, VCS, Climate Action Reserve) in order to not fall into the many scams online. With it only costing $6.28 to offset the carbon emissions of a round-trip flight from Montreal to Toronto, why not pay a little extra for your next trip?
4. Join local environmental groups on campus!
There are several energetic environmental groups at McGill that are actively working to make the University and our community more sustainable. Try to attend the next events put on by Divest McGill, Greenpeace McGill, and Extinction Rebellion Quebec. Within the faculty, the recently formed McGill Law Climate Justice Club is gearing up for a full year of environmental workshops and activities. Feel free to join the McGill Climate Justice Facebook group and come to our next meeting!
5. Vote for the environment.
With a federal election only a few weeks away, make sure to do your research on what promises the different political parties are making on climate change policy. On October 21 make your voice count by voting for the most pressing issue of our time. Only one political party wants to scrap the carbon tax and we cannot let them win. The stakes are too high. Once the election is over, write to your MP to hold them accountable to their party’s climate promises.
The message of the Climate Strike was clear: the time to act is now. Let’s get started.